Smashed my son's Xbox with a hammer as punishment. Now he won't talk to me. Not sure if I screwed up.

This is the right advice. I think that you should tell your son that you made a mistake by letting your temper get the best of you. You should tell him that you are going to work on this and make a concerted effort to improve yourself. If you have gone off the rails with his mother in the past, then fess up to that too... and say you are going to work hard stay calm from now on. You should get your son to identify something that he wants to work on to improve his behavior. Perhaps you can both set a goal, achieve it and reward yourselves with something awesome you could do together. Start using the carrot for both of you more than the stick. Most 14 year old boys get excited about doing cool things and will work for it. Maybe get tickets to a pro sporting event, NASCAR, concert, go on a trip, camping... something cool you can both look forward to... but you will have to earn it by improving behaviors together.

just the truth wrote:

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Please have the authorities investigate this guy.

Respect is earned, that’s what the older generation doesn’t seem to understand, just because you are older does not mean that you automatically deserve the respect of everyone. As for the belt, the next time you do something annoying or disrespectful to someone, I hope they gladly take their belt to you.

If you want to regain the respect go with him somewhere in the wilderness for a few weeks. Go somewhere really remote like Siberia or Mauritania. Both of you will learn lessons on survival and how to cooperate to survive. You will begin to respect and appreciate each other and understand life. You will go through a dramatic change of relationship. When you return home things will be very different.

Sounds like you have anger issues.

Must be a troll, because no parent behaves like that

Don't mind if this is too late but bashing a kid's Xbox is a bit too far. He's obviously had other things wrong in his life and I think the Xbox was a way of him to get away from all that to be free and socialise and do whatever he wants. I haven't written this for the original poster but for some adult that's done the same and sees this post. So if that's you don't do it if you haven't already. Just talk to your child and build trust. Communication is key and just destroyimg a prized possession is never the answer

Your first mistake was buying him the Xbox to begin with.

Nothing beats a good showing of violence to a disrespectful and possibly aggressive teenager, I'm sure he's now learned a good lesson.

LOL. He'll get over it.

That reminds me of when I was about 16 (1977) and my Dad found my bong out in the bushes in the front yard (that's where I'd sneak off for a bong hit). He smashed it into a thousand pieces and put the sad remains on my dresser in my room He never said a word about it and neither did I, to this day. I'm 59 now. Makes me smile to think about those times. He'd prolly laugh about it now if I brought it up.

elviejo wrote:

LOL. He'll get over it.

That reminds me of when I was about 16 (1977) and my Dad found my bong out in the bushes in the front yard (that's where I'd sneak off for a bong hit). He smashed it into a thousand pieces and put the sad remains on my dresser in my room He never said a word about it and neither did I, to this day. I'm 59 now. Makes me smile to think about those times. He'd prolly laugh about it now if I brought it up.

Nice. I like both of your styles.

Theres actually nothing much you can do. The only thing you can do is to wait for your son to get over it. But honestly, you should expect him react like that, i mean, you cant destroy something thats so much improtant to your son and then expect him to get over it just like that. Of course hed be pissed, i would be too. Its not a solution to breaks your kids stuff, only if you you want your child to hate you. I mean everbody would be pissed. Just put yourself in your kids situation. Yeah, he did some bullshit to, but you dont have to be as dumb es he was. Its just primitive to break your kids stuff, because this wont lead to a solution, only to your kid hating you, and i dont think you should have done that. The best way is to talk about it, thats sure. But now its too late anyway. I mean, he isnt coming out of his room even for Food and water, so you seriously screwed up with your son. And your act may has affected your child-parent bond that hard, that your kid wont even trust you any more.

It's been 2 years, hopefully he's over it by now

Only 2 possibilities about this thread:

David45 is real, and this is his dad

-- OR --

It is time to expand the fictional universe that the David45 character lives in

GOOD WORK

Just in case you are a real person and not a troll:

-Boys handle stress differently. They keep their cards close. You have to do more than just ask "how was your day" and take their answer at face value. There is probably a whole world going on for him that you know nothing about because he keeps it well hidden.

-The suicide rate for boys 12-18 is really high. The PC movement has made the pendelum swing so that girls are the heavy favorite now. My high school son tells me that if a boy forgets his homework he gets a very different response from most teachers than a girl would (especially if she is able to produce tears).

-As a parent you are supposed to provide stability. Your son needs to see you as an adult who can hang on to his marbles. He probably does not see you that way right now. If I were you I would work to change that.

-And this:

I want an update on this story...

Canada Girl wrote:

Only 2 possibilities about this thread:

David45 is real, and this is his dad

-- OR --

It is time to expand the fictional universe that the David45 character lives in

So good...